For the past couple of weeks I have been “wanting” a couple of rather expensive toys which I really cannot justify their cost. They would be fun to have but I am not sure on THE value that they would provide at this point. I am saving some money and hopefully in the future I can invest in these cool gadgets. Read more on a little camera and computer that keep me awake at night — no, not really!

I have started taking more and more photos whenever we go out and I try to carry my little camera out and about, however, I want to practice more but the camera iteself does not allow for much manual composition. So, one of the toys that I have in mind is the “entry” level digital SLR from Canon also known as the Digital Rebel.

I have been doing some reading and researching and although there are a couple of “problems” with the camera and certain lenses, the camera itself has proven to be a great asset. I used to have a Minolta SLR camera (35mm format) that I gave to my dad once I got my camera. I loved the camera but as I was trying to push it more and more, the learning process became too expensive.

Digital SLR’s offer the best of both worlds. You have the freedom to push the camera as you please (as far as settings go) and there is not film expenses associated with it. A few years ago the only thing that would keep these cameras to be accessible to the normal user was the cost. Today, you can get one of the three or four “entry” level cameras for about $1,000. I know it still is quite a bit of money but the rewards would be worth it.

The second toy in my mind these days is a new laptop. I have a Fujitsu C-Series that I bought a couple of years ago. I love my computer and for a while I was using it as my primary machine. The only thing that I have started to dislike is the fact that although it is “portable”, it is not the easiest thing to take on the run. It is heavy and somewhat too big to be a true mobile solution. Fair enough, why would I need a smaller or lighter computer since I hardly travel these days and it is not like I take my computer everywhere I go. The answer to that is convenience.

Wireless networks are poping up everywhere, from my living room to the local Starbucks. This infrastructure has been setup to accomodate the “mobile” being that our society is demanding us to become. This is not some sort of theory or state-of-our-society kind of message, it is just my opinion of where we are going to go as technology becomes more accesible to all of us. In any case, it sure would be nice to be able to take a smaller notebook with you, everywhere you went. I got the laptop I got for its power (at the time it was a pretty fast machine) but now I would put more attention to size and weight.

I would love to have one of the new 12″ Powerbooks from Apple for their slick design and the fact that it would give me a different platform to learn and experiement with. The caveat is the expense, even with my education discount, I am not sure that I can justify such expense. There are a couple of PC laptops that I had looked at for their small form factor. IBM has the Thinkpad X series while Fujitsu has the S Series.

In any case, I guess the main reason for me to put this on the site is to remind me of what to buy when I win the lotery!!!